Exceptional/Extraordinary Individuals

"There isn't enough darkness in the whole world to put out a single candle."

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle. Yet each one loses nothing when it lights another."

"Life is no brief candle to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations." George Bernard Shaw

Think about what the following people have in common:

Stephen Hawking

Helen Keller

Christopher Reeve

Dr. John Nash (“A Beautiful Mind”)

Nicole Johnson, Miss America 1998

Michelangelo

Lionel Aldridge

Barbra Streisand

Gaetano Donizetti

Robert Schumann

Tammy Wynette

Leo Tolstoy

John Keats

Virginia Woolf

Vaslov Nijinsky

Edgar Allen Poe

Kristi McNichol

Isaac Newton

Barbara Mandrell

Ernest Hemingway

Winston Churchill

Vivien Leigh

Emperor Norton I

Sid Caesar

Frida Kahlo (Mexican Artist)

Michael J. Fox

Jimmy Piersall

Sylvia Plath (Poet)

Charles Dickens

Jonathan Winters

Judy Garland

Dick Cavett

Ronnie Milsap

Oprah Winfrey

Thomas Edison

Diana Spencer Windsor (the Princess of Wales)

Stevie Wonder

Charlie Parker (Jazz Musician/Composer)

Heather Whitestone, Miss America 1995

Henry Morton Stanley (“Dr Livingston, I presume?”)

Jimmy Hendricks

Trudi Montag ("Stones From the River")

Albert Einstein

Eva "Evita" Peron

Muhammed Ali

Barbara Walters

Vincent Van Gogh

Rosanne Barr

"The Rain Man"

Ludvik Van Beethovan

Christy Brown ("My Left Foot", 1989)

Elizabeth Taylor

Jose Feliciano

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Trudi Chase ("When Rabbit Howls")

Ray Charles

Marlee Matlin

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Marilyn Monroe

Elvis Presley

Karen Carpenter

Eugene O’Neil

Sammy Davis, Jr.

Annie Sullivan (Helen Keller's teacher)

Patty Duke

David Helfgott ("Shine")

You and/or Your Loved One?

***** All of these exceptionally gifted people have/had special needs and challenges. They all require(ed) understanding, support and assistance in order to fulfill their tremendous potential.
***** Remember, what’s wrong with you can be fixed with or compensated by what’s right with you . . . and sometimes they're the same thing!”

The Water Bearer

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master's house.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.

"I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."

"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?"

"I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path. Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."

PRINTED ARTICLES ON EXCEPTIONAL INDIVIDUALS

"THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY: Understanding the Gifted Artist." - Details
the
psychological, emotional and spiritual qualities of the artistically gifted. Best summarized in the
words of
one of my favorite artists, "Being an artist isn't something I chose to be or even want to be
(sometimes it's
so very painful); but it's what I HAVE to be. It's an itch I can't scratch enough, a constant monkey
on my
back. It's like a highly addictive drug and a lover combined; being without it is agony. I'd give up
food,
shelter, comfort, love, friends, family, everything if I had to, for my art. But the ecstasy of creating
beauty,
of doing something no else has ever done quite like it before, the expression of my very soul, the
essence
of my humanity; it's worth every sacrifice."

"Gifted Kids At Risk." Discusses the different categories of gifted youngsters particularly at
risk for
school drop out, mental illness, drug abuse, suicide, and other problems. The categories include
those
with physical disabilities/health problems, those who are learning disabled/learning different, those
who
have been abused/traumatized, those who are economically disadvantaged, the profoundly gifted,
divergent thinkers, the multiply-labeled gifted, and oppositional/acting out gifted kids. Gives ideas
and
suggestions for preventing above said problems.

"Helping Gifted Kids Cope With Peer Pressure": Discusses ways parents, teachers and
therapists
can help youngsters learn self esteem, self confidence, and self efficacy. It deals with redefining
the word
"peer" and finding appropriate peers for gifted youngsters. It also discusses the importance of
mentors
and of reading the biographies of gifted people.

"ALBERT EINSTEIN: The Scientist, The Philosopher, The Moralist, The Man." A short biography of one of the greatest minds in history. Einstein was passionate about the ethical treatment of individuals who are different, because as a child he was so different from other children and so painfully
misunderstood. It discusses his ideas about morality, science, and freedom, and the nature of good and evil. He wrote in On Education, "schools should develop in youngsters those qualities and capabilities which are of value for the welfare of the commonwealth. But that does not mean individuality should be destroyed. . . but rather the aim must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals who see in the service of the community their highest life problem." He also felt it important that people not take themselves or others
too seriously and valued humor.

Some of these articles were written printed in "A Different Drummer", the Journal of the Oregon
Association for the Talented And Gifted. If you are interested in obtaining copies of any of the
numerous
articles I have written, please contact me.